EUROPE: Breeze in Parliament

By no popular demand whatsoever, the European Parliament met at Strasbourg last week. Despite its sonorous and imposing name, it may well be the least effective arm of the expanding Common Market. Its 183 members, including 41 new Danish, Irish and British delegates, are not elected but appointed by their national legislatures. Established in 1958, the Strasbourg assembly never has had any say over the EEC's budget, personnel or policies. All of these are controlled by the large bureaucratic machine in Brussels. The European Parliament's one real power is the right to...

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